How to create segments with Composer

Composer is Klaviyo's AI marketing agent. It can build a segment from a plain-language description of the audience you want, so you spend less time assembling conditions by hand and more time deciding who to target. Composer drafts the segment, but you stay in control: you review it and save it yourself before it becomes part of your account.

You will learn

• How to describe the audience you want
• How to read the segment preview before you save
• How to distinguish a new segment draft from an existing segment
• What to check before you save
• Where to go to build a more detailed segment yourself

Before you begin

You can create a segment on its own or as part of generating a campaign. To learn more about creating segments during campaign generation, see How to create campaigns with Composer.

Step 1: Describe the audience you want

Select the sparkle icon labeled Composer in Klaviyo to open the chat, then enter and submit a plain-language description of the segment you want. The more specific you are about conditions, the closer the result will be. Strong prompts usually name three things:

• Who to include: The consent status or group you're targeting, such as profiles with email marketing consent.
• What they did or didn't do: The behavior that defines the audience, such as never having made a purchase, or having ordered 3 or more times.
• The timeframe: The window the behavior applies to, such as the last 90 days or all time.

Here are three prompts that work well:

• "Create a segment of all profiles with email consent who have purchased in the last 90 days but haven't opened an email in 30 days."
• "Create a segment of all profiles within 10 miles of Boston, MA who have never made a purchase."
• "Build a segment of repeat purchasers who have ordered 3 or more times in the last 6 months."

Composer works best with natural language, whole sentences rather than keywords. If a condition matters to you, say it explicitly. Leaving it out means Composer decides for you.

Step 2: Review the preview before you save

For a new segment, Composer returns a draft to review before adding it to Lists & Segments. The preview includes:

• The segment name
• The profile count, when available
• The conditions in plain language, grouped so you can see how they combine

Select Show more if it appears to expand the conditions. Review the full definition, including consent, timeframes, and exclusions, rather than relying on the segment name or profile count alone.

The preview groups the conditions to show how they work together. A profile has to match every group, but within a single group it only has to match one condition. So if one group is "has email marketing consent" and another is "purchased in the last 90 days," a profile needs both to be included. If a single group holds "purchased in the last 90 days" and "visited the site in the last 30 days," either one is enough.

A new segment draft shows proposed conditions and an action to save or create it. When Composer selects an existing segment for a campaign, you don't need to create it again. If Composer shows only its name, open the segment in Lists & Segments to check its conditions before using it. An Update action indicates proposed changes to an existing segment, not a new segment.

Step 3: Save the segment

When the new segment looks right, select Save (or Create if that is the action shown on your preview). After the success confirmation, select View to open the saved segment. You can also find it under Lists & Segments.

From there it behaves like any segment you built yourself. You can edit its conditions, use it as a campaign audience, or trigger a flow from it. Saving a standalone segment does not send messages or add it to a campaign or flow. When you create a campaign with Composer, any new segments used as its audience are created and attached when you create the campaign draft in Klaviyo; you still review the campaign before sending.

To understand the conditions Composer used, or to build a more detailed segment yourself, see Getting started with segments for the fundamentals, and Advanced segmentation reference for advanced use cases across messaging, forms, analytics, and advertising.

Tips

• Name your conditions explicitly: If consent, timeframe, or purchase history matters to you, say so in the prompt. Composer fills any gaps with its own assumptions.
• Use the profile count as a cross-check: Compare it against roughly what you expected before you save. A plausible count does not replace checking that the conditions describe the audience you want.
• Revise the prompt rather than the segment: If the definition is well off, generate again with a clearer prompt instead of correcting conditions one at a time.
• Start from an audit finding: If a segment audit flagged a coverage gap in your account, describe that gap back to Composer as a segment to create.

FAQ